Pride and Promises ✔

Chapter 45

It was already evening by the time I woke up. My head had finally stopped throbbing and I breathed in relief, making a mental note to visit a doctor soon. I looked around to find that I was still in Adrian's old room. I felt a soft caress on my hand and turned my head to see the man in question sitting in a chair by the bed as he ran small circles on the back of my hand.

He hadn't yet noticed that I was awake- so observed he was in his own thoughts- and I took this moment to admire the left side of his face illuminated by the soft evening light of his room. A faint stubble was beginning grow along his jaw, making me long to brush my lips over it.

Silently scolding myself for entertaining those wanton thoughts, I raised my other hand- which was not currently in the devil's hold- and ran my fingers through his hair. I mentally decided to steal all his hair products the next time I went to his penthouse. It would be a huge matter of shame for the entire womanhood if men started having nicer hair with minimal efforts.

As if hit by a lightning, Adrian startled from his thoughts and looked at me with wide eyes, as though expecting to find a ghost staring back at him instead of me. Once the shock of me being fully awake wore out, he hastily got up and started exploring my head.

"Are you alright? Does your head still hurt? Brandon is just down the hall if you want him to see. You know what, I'll just call him. Just stay here for a whi-"

I quickly held his arm to stop him when he made a move to move out of the room to call Brandon. Giving him a reassuring smile, I shook my head. "Adrian, I'm okay. It was just a minor headache I have every now and then. I'm all good now, as I told you I'd be."

"Does it happen often?" He asked in concern.

I shrugged in reply. "Not as often as you're thinking. It just comes and goes when it pleases. I normally have a control over the pain. This time, it was slightly worse than before."

Adrian looked to be in deep thought for a while, his furrowed eyes holding a faraway look. He finally turned back to me after a few minutes and asked so quietly that I would've missed it had he not been so close to me. "The paintings triggered them, didn't they?"

I opened my mouth to deny but he spoke before I could, giving me a pointed look. "Don't try to lie, Eve. I remember that day in your office when you met dad for the first time. You had experienced a similar pain when dad had talked about your parents. Any reminder of your past triggers the pain, doesn't it?"

I thought about it for a while. I had no idea he still remembered that moment. But at the same time, I could neither deny the warmth that spread through me at the thought of him caring enough about me then as well to remember that small detail. There was no point in denying now. I had come to the same conclusion some time ago. I nodded slowly. "You could say that, I suppose," I admitted reluctantly, not liking the way his eyes closed off in guilt.

Letting out a series of curse words so softly that even I wasn't able to hear, he looked at me with pained eyes. "Damnit! I'm such a fool! I'm so, so sorry for showing those photos and painting to you at once, love. I should've known better. I just wanted you to remember those moments we shared together. But I was such an inconsiderate jerk! Forgive me, Eve, I shouldn't have pressurized you."

I shook my head, holding his hands that were on the either side of my cheeks. "This is why I didn't want to tell you, Adrian. I knew you'd blame it all upon yourself. Addie, listen to me. You did nothing wrong! In fact, I'm thankful you showed me those photos and paintings because now, I'm finally beginning to feel that I did have a past. I've been so frustrated because I can't even remember anything of my childhood. There was no one I could ask. Eva herself was very young at the time and my grandparents hadn't seen me after my birth until after the accident.